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  2. Nakawa women councillors trained on social media and digital security-UMWA

Nakawa women councillors trained on social media and digital security-UMWA

3 March 2023, 9:44 pm

By Byamukama Aloysius

Naloga Joyce of Nakawa Parish and Zawedde Hadijah of Bokoto B during the training at UMWA.

Uganda Media Women’s Association has trained about 15 councillors from Nakawa Division in Kampala City at UMWA premises in Kisaasi. The training aimed at providing skills on use of digital tools to communicate with their electorate and how to deal with online gender based violence.

Most women councillors who attended the training were aware of the social media platforms, however lacked practical skills on how to utilise them and showed interest to know more about Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook. The councillors were also helped on how to create strong passwords to safeguard their information against hackers.

Ndagire Laila the chief facilitator engaged councillors in practical sessions where they created Twitter accounts and learnt about the different settings on applications like WhatsApp and Facebook. She informed them that they should utilise the platforms to connect with their electorate to “create a database of your electorate through Whatsapp groups and easily communicate with them and understand their needs. This will help you serve them better.”

Ndagire Laira taking through councillors in practicals.

Bukoto 2B woman councillor Kenyange Milly thanked UMWA for having trained them and assured to use the skills to know what is affecting her community and providing solutions. Kanyenge said she will train more women in her community to get the same skills on digital platforms to ease communication and delivery of services.

Councillors expressing what they learnt.

In 2021, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) revealed that the proportion of household members that used the internet was lower for women (5%) relative to men (8%). It is worth noting that affordability issues were highlighted among the main reasons for the low internet access.

Margaret Sentamu, the Executive Director of Uganda Media Women’s Association, says this training is aligned to the women’s month which will be celebrated on 8th March 2023 under the theme DigitAll, Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality.

Margaret Sentamu, Executive Director of UMWA.

Margaret Sentamu also said she wants government to allow again the use of Facebook so that the councillors trained can use the platform to deliver services to their people. She also asked government to reduce taxes on gadgets used in digital communication such as phones and laptops among others so that all women in Uganda can have access to them.